We Are A Song
by TheRoseShadow21
Summary: A chance meeting at the school swimming pool blossoms into a life changer for three lost teenagers. Zankyou no Terror AU, mostly Lisa's POV with some Nine and Twelve POV put in for variety. Two-parter, Rated T to be safe.
1. part 1

**So, this was meant to be a one-shot, but it ended up getting too long, so I cut it in half and turned it into a two-parter. **

**Anyway, this is an AU in which Nine and Twelve are just normal kids, although they're still orphans. Also, they still call each other Nine and Twelve, although I'll refer to them as Kokonoe and Hisami in the story. I felt like our trio deserved some happiness, especially after the feels trip of episode 9, so here it is. **

**Anyway, as this is AU, I've re-ordered and mixed up the anime scenes to suit this story, and made up names where they weren't given/ I could not remember them. I also decided to skip the swimming pool scene as that would virtually be the same as it was in the anime, therefore, no point. So, I hope you enjoy this. **

"So, I see you've dried off, then." Kokonoe said when he got to the roof. Hisami merely grinned at him, causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation.

"People have been talking about you, you know. Didn't I tell you not to make an utter fool of yourself, Twelve?"

"Ah, it's no big deal, really. You're _way _too uptight, Nine. Speaking of which, people have been talking about you too, you know."

This was news to Kokonoe. He preferred being on the side-lines, and so during that first morning he had tried to not draw attention to himself.

"Shiori Sakakibara, Eiri Akazawa, Yuuto Sanada, Haruki Satou. To name but a few." Hisami informed him when he didn't respond.

This made Kokonoe laugh.

"You don't need to memorise everyone's names, you know. Especially not all on the first day."

They watched the view from the roof for a while, not saying anything, but simply enjoying the wind and the sky and the serenity. Then a girl ran across the courtyard, hugging her bag to her chest and running towards a small, squat building.

"Isn't that the girl we saw earlier?" Kokonoe said, squinting. From this far up, her features weren't distinct, but there was something in the way she ran that seemed familiar. He recalled the incident from that morning-the girl at the swimming pool, her jeering classmates. The way Hisami had, for reasons unknown, decided to jump into the pool himself, distracting the jeering classmates long enough for the girl to escape (one she had realised what was happening). He couldn't remember what the girl's name was, or even if she had been referred to by name then.

"Lisa Mishima. She's in my class," Hisami told him. "And those are the old toilets she's running to. Is she going to eat lunch there or something?"

"Is that really any of our business?"

Hisami shrugged, and then watched Lisa Mishima intently as she disappeared into the building. He continued staring for a few moments after that, and then said.

"I'm going down there."

Kokonoe gave him a questioning look. Hisami shrugged, and then ran to the roof entrance.

"I'll see ya after school, okay?" With that, he was gone. Kokonoe stood there for a moment, confused, and then shrugged and continued looking out at the view.

**…**

Her phone vibrated as soon as she sat down. Breathing in, she made a point of ignoring it as she dug out her bento box, settled it on her lap, and opened it. But her phone kept vibrating, and eventually, she fished it out of her bag and stared at the messages, which continued coming.

There was no respite. School was a hell-hole, home was a permanent storm. Nothing could be done. Whenever people asked 'how are you', they didn't want the truth. Whenever she tried to reach out herself, she was ignored, or laughed at.

It was just the way things were, she knew that. Didn't mean she had to like it.

Trouble is, there was nothing she could do.

Another text came in. Asking her if the lunch was tasty. All of a sudden, she lost her appetite. She shoved her fist in her mouth, attempting to stifle a scream, all too ready to throw her lunch away when a cheerful voice asked.

"Why are you in here?"

Surprised, she looked up. The new transfer student, Hisami, was standing in front of her, regarding her with a quizzical look. She let her hand fall back to her side.

"Are you following me?" she asked, quietly, masking her turmoil. He was there that morning, too. Witnessing her usual ordeal. Was he stalking her or something?

"Well, this isn't a nice place to eat, is it? Why would you eat here?"

"With all due respect, why is this your problem? I don't even know you." She didn't know how to feel about this boy.

"Because you lied to me," He said cheerfully. "You_ were_ being bullied this morning."

_Not what I was expecting._

"Again, why do you care? Nobody else does." A blush rose on her cheeks. She'd already revealed too much. Quickly, she closed her bento box and shoved her phone in her bag, ready to make her exit.

"Really?" it took her a moment to realise he had responded to what she had just said. She looked at him. He seemed almost wistful as he regarded her. She held the bento box closer to her, although she had no intention of eating it.

"That's a bento box?" all of a sudden, he was inquisitive again.

"Yes…"

"Lucky. We've never had bento boxes before. "

Lisa couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. Really? Was such a thing possible?

"Are you going to go somewhere else to eat it? Why not come up to the roof? It's nice there, and Nine's up there too."

At that point, she lost it. It vaguely occurred to her that she had no idea who this 'Nine' was, but she didn't care.

"Leave me alone!" Almost without thinking, she shoved her bento box at him and ran off. To where, she didn't know, but she wanted him to leave her alone. She wanted _everyone _to leave her alone.

When she had been running a while, she turned, almost expecting Hisami to follow. He hadn't. Breathing a sigh of relief, she decided to spend the rest of lunchtime in the library.

The lessons afterwards were relatively uneventful. For once, Asami Iguchi and the other girls decided she was too much bother and left her alone. She felt Hisami watching her, but he didn't try to approach her, which she was glad of. Five minutes with him and her heart was on her sleeve. Exactly where she did not want it.

At the end of the day, she packed her bag slowly, as usual, waiting for as many people as possible to leave. After putting the things on her desk into her bag, she lifted the lid of the desk to get some exercise books she needed to use for homework. But instead of seeing her History textbook on top of the pile, she saw her pink bento box, empty but pristine.

Well, almost empty.

Curiously, she picked up the folded piece of white paper that was tucked in the box, and opened it.

_The food was tasty. We both enjoyed it. Thank You!_

_-Toji Hisami_

She looked around for Hisami, surprised, but he had already left. She put the bento box and relevant exercise books in her bag, and zipped it up. For reasons she herself didn't know, she kept the note in her shirt pocket.

**…**

Almost as soon as Kokonoe left the locker area, he came back.

"You're still here?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hisami replied. "I've yet to decide where to go kill time. Anyway, aren't you going to be late?"

"I found these." Kokonoe said, holding up a pair of indoor school shoes. Girls ones, by the looks of them. The blue sole suggested that the girl was a second-year, like them.

_Lisa_, he thought instantly, despite the fact that there was no reason to.

"Strange. Where'd you find them?"

"Wedged underneath the stairwell."

Hisami took the shoes from Kokonoe and inspected them, looking for a name label of some sort. He found the name written in tiny print inside the shoe. _Lisa Mishima_. It seemed he was right.

"Someone was hiding them for fun." Hisami concluded.

"And, pray tell, how did you know that?"

"They're Lisa's."

"Oh."

"Anyway, I'll wait here with them, for her. You go. "

"Are you sure?"

"Go, go. Lateness isn't going to impress the press now, is it?"

"You're an idiot. Thanks."

Once again, Hisami was left waiting by himself. He sighed, and sat on the step. He wondered how long it would take for her to arrive. Those girls had arrived very early, and all to hide her shoes. He wondered if it was a daily occurrence. Judging by the way she had hidden herself on Friday, as if she was well versed in such things, suggested yes.

Strange, then, that she had such a rare-coloured voice.

"Oh, Lisa, _Ohayou_!"

The girl stopped in her tracks and regarded him warily.

"Are those my shoes?" she asked, checking her locker at the same time. When she realised it was empty, she looked back at him again.

Hisami paused a moment, not wanting her to lash out again. Then he replied.

"Yes. Nine found them near the stairwell." As soon as he said that, he realised he probably shouldn't have referred to Kokonoe by nickname, as Lisa now looked utterly stunned.

_I'm an idiot._

"Arata Kokonoe, I mean," Hisami clarified quickly. "Anyway, here you go."

Lisa took the shoes carefully, and then put her outdoor ones into the locker, and the indoor ones on her feet, watching him all the while. Finally, when she straightened, he saw her voice again, although it was too quiet to hear.

"Thank you. "

"Not a problem!"

They stood there for a moment, looking at each other. For some reason, Lisa didn't immediately leave, like he would have expected. Instead, she reached in her bag and pulled out a pink lunchbox that he recognised from Friday.

"Erm…there's a bit more in there than last time…I'm not going to eat it…"

"Actually, why not keep a hold of it, and come hang with us at lunchtime." He said on an impulse. He smiled beatifically, hoping for a yes. He wasn't sure why he had asked her that. Maybe it was something to do with her voice, the colour of it, and the cadence of it. The fact that she, as the owner of such a voice, was an unexpected quantity. Or maybe it was because she was like looking into a mirror. There was a look in her eyes that reminded him of his childhood. The childhood shared with Kokonoe. And that gave her potential to be another friend. He had always wanted to be part of a group of friends.

So maybe that is why he wanted her to take him up on the offer. Maybe.

"I…suppose I could," Lisa said eventually. "But…you're friends with Kokonoe-kun, right? Would he want me there…?"

"Ah, don't worry about him! He's a bit frosty, but he's a good guy, really!"

Lisa nodded at that.

"In which case, OK." She said, sounding a little surprised at herself.

"Okay! Anyway, I'm going to the library until homeroom. You?"

"I think I'll head to class." And just like that, she disappeared.

Hisami grinned at the space she left behind, and then left the locker area himself.

**…**

"Oh, I see you managed to find them yourself! What a miracle!" Lisa flinched as Asami came behind her. She felt Yuuko Nakazawa pull at her short hair, but she continued looking down at the book she'd put down on the desk.

"I...did." she muttered. She had been arriving at school earlier and earlier each day, hoping to get to her locker before the girls did, but she hadn't succeeded yet. On the plus side, leaving very meant escaping home for longer. As if school was an escape.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or maybe your _mother_ took it?" At Asami's joke, all four girls laughed. Lisa flinched at the mention of her mother.

The teasing and baiting went on for a while, and then the girls got bored and drifted off, laughing loudly at some joke. Knowing them, the joke was Lisa herself. She sighed, and put her book away.

Her attention drifted to Hisami's desk, directly in front of her. She had no idea what to make of the new transfer student, and the way he kept on managing to find her. Surely he had noticed what an outsider she was? No sensible person had associated themselves with her, and for a very good reason. But yet he had been over-friendly on Friday, and had waited for her with her shoes today, just to make sure that she found them.

Hisami was a strange one, certainly. And yet she had found herself persuading her mother to make extra food so that she could give it to him. Sure, the request had been a way of diverting her mother's weepy mood that weekend, but she couldn't deny that Hisami had been her motive. And she had found herself saying yes to his lunchtime invitation.

She shook her head. It was too much to think about.

At that moment, Hisami came in, talking to a bunch of other students. He came and sat at his desk, and continued the conversation for a short while before the others went to either start other conversations or just sit at their own desks. She gazed at his curly brown hair for a while, before he turned around, catching her in the act and making her go a bit red.

"We still a go for lunchtime?" Lisa winced instantly, sneaking a glance at Asami and the others. Hisami looked at where she was looking, and grimaced.

"Sorry, sorry. But..?"

Lisa nodded, quickly and frantically. Hisami smiled at that, in a way that was so happy that she felt almost bad about worrying about Asami's reaction.

"Okay," Hisami whispered conspiratorially. "I'll keep quiet until lunchtime, okay?"

Lisa gave him a smile in return. It was the least she could do.

**…**

When Kokonoe glared, Lisa wondered if maybe Hisami had been wrong about him.

"Erm…Hisami-kun told me I could…if you want me to leave I…" _great, unfinished sentences. Good job, me!_

Kokonoe simply looked at her with the gaze she'd thought of as icy when she had first spotted him by the swimming pool. Then he nodded.

"I suppose if this was Twelve's idea, it's fine." He paused, and then amended that "At least, it's something I'll deal with."

Again with the numbers. She wondered if they were part of some sort of weird nicknaming system the two boys used with each other. Pondering the thought, she sat down at a respectable distance from Kokonoe, and took out her bento box, handing it over.

Kokonoe took it, and put it down next to him, before fixing her with an intense stare.

"You should eat, you know." He told her. Lisa made a vague noise of agreement, but didn't touch her food. No matter how hungry she was, the swirling feelings at the pit of her stomach made consumption impossible. "Didn't you make this, after all?"

"No…my mum…." Of all the things she didn't want to talk about, her mother was at the top of the list. She didn't want to explain how her mother had always been walking a tightrope, but that she had lost balance when her father had gotten impatient and left. She didn't want to speak of how she came home every day wondering if her mother would be in a weepy mood or an angry mood, and how although both were equally dreaded, she preferred the weepy moods because she knew how to handle them. She didn't want to talk about any of it. Luckily, Kokonoe took her trailing off as a hint and didn't pursue it.

"Also, you should get a padlock."

It took Lisa a moment to realise that he was referring to her locker. She recalled Hisami telling her that it had been Kokonoe who had found her shoes.

"Thanks for finding my shoes this morning." She said, genuinely.

Kokonoe merely nodded, and began eating from her bento box, while she sat. Eventually, Hisami arrived, carrying a bag from the school tuck-shop.

"We're having a picnic!" he declared.

"You're too loud!"

Hisami grinned at him, and sat down so that he was facing both of them, before upending the contents of the bag on the ground.

"Here." He threw a packet of crisps at Lisa.

"Erm…"

"Just eat it." Kokonoe said. Lisa hesitated, and then opened the crisp packet and tasted a crisp. And another. And another.

They ate in silence for a while, and then Hisami asked.

"Isn't the Tokyo Government Building school trip today?" Kokonoe asked suddenly.

"Yeah, it is. " Hisami said. "It's after lunch, I think. "

"We're supposed to make our own way there." Lisa said, recalling what the second-year students had said the previous year.

"Oh, is that so? Let's go together then."

Kokonoe considered this.

"I suppose that would be the logical thing to do." He said eventually.

"Of course it is!" Hisami said, pleased. "What do you think, Lisa?"

She thought. She still didn't understand what Hisami's interest in her was. Whether she was setting herself up for more crap. But at the same time, life couldn't get any worse, so she nodded.

And once again, Hisami gave her a hot-summer's smile, and she felt guilty for being so cynical.

After that, they finished eating pretty quickly, and they left the school to get to the Tokyo Government Building. Hisami and Kokonoe chatted most of the way, with Hisami doing most of the talking. They occasionally asked Lisa a few, impersonal questions (although Hisami pushed the boundary many times), but they seemed absorbed in their own world. Still, the feeling of walking along with someone was nice.

When they got to the building, a waiting teacher registered them, and then they were free for more wandering around. They encountered a few other students from their year group, who didn't pay much attention to them. Luckily for Lisa, none of these students were Asami, Yuuko, Ai or Tomoko.

"What are we meant to be doing, exactly?" Kokonoe asked.

"I'm not sure." Lisa confessed. Hisami laughed, and Kokonoe shrugged, and they continued wandering. Eventually, they came across the souvenir shop.

"Why is there a souvenir shop in a place like this?" Lisa wondered aloud.

"For people like us!" Hisami said. "Look, there's Kururin!" He immediately gathered up a large armful of the pink stuffed toys.

"Are you actually seriously considering buying the entire stock?!" Kokonoe asked, looking faintly outraged.

"Why not?" Hisami seemed oblivious to his ridiculousness.

Kokonoe shook his head, exasperated.

"Seriously, think!"

Hisami pouted, and then thought.

"_Fine_. I'll just buy six of them."

"That's _still_ too much…"

"Actually, it is perfectly reasonable!"

Lisa stared, stunned, and then grinned. These two boys were crazy.

Soon after Hisami had bought all 6 Kururin toys, it was time for them to go home. They walked part of the way together, Kokonoe still arguing. When they got to the crossing at which they had to part ways, Lisa was stunned to see a Kururin shoved at her.

"A present," Hisami explained. "Because we're friends, right?"

Lisa was stunned, again, but managed to choke out a response which pleased Hisami.

"Okay, see you tomorrow then!"

"Yeah."

As she made her way home, she found herself clutching the toy tightly. A storm was coming.

And sure enough, as soon as she opened the door, it did.

"Why didn't you reply? Are you ignoring me? You're going to leave, aren't you? Just like your father! AREN'T YOU?" Her mother's arms shot out, and her hands grabbed onto Lisa's shoulders, shaking her back and forth.

Just a typical angry mood.

Finally, she managed to break free from her mother and ran to her room. She threw her bag in the corner and curled up on her bed, still hugging Kururin.

It took her a long time to fall asleep, the way it always did. But this time, she didn't shake so badly.

Because today, she had made a friend.

**…**

Not much changed over the next few weeks. Her mother still veered between weepy and angry. Asami and the others still insisted on picking on her.

But some things were different. She bought a padlock and affixed to her locker, wearing the key on a chain around her neck, which saved one hassle. Hisami and Kokonoe came up to her often, and she spent many a lunch time with them. And when her science class were put into groups for a project, she found herself actually having a somewhat friendly conversation with the two girls she had been paired with-twins called Hanayo and Kotori Sasaki, both very sporty girls who claimed they were one-eighth Spanish. The three of them didn't automatically become close, but whenever Hanayo's lunchtime swim meets were cancelled or Kotori couldn't be bothered with hanging with the girls' basketball team, they would join her for lunch with Hisami and Kokonoe, who welcomed them both happily. Well, Hisami did. Kokonoe would just nod.

So in a way, things were better. But she still found herself wondering-_why did they bother with me_?

**…**

One evening, Kokonoe found himself asking Hisami what it was he saw in Lisa Mishima.

Hisami pulled a face from where he was sitting on the sofa reading a novel.

"Dunno. Why'd you ask?"

"Because I am genuinely curious." He responded. This was true. It wasn't that he didn't like the girl-she was actually good company, and a lot quieter than either of them (which was always a good thing). It was just he was wary of her. And, given the way his life had been up until now, he felt justified in being that way. All their lives, they'd never been somewhere long enough to grow roots, and even if they had been, they were isolated for lacking a family, for not having a real home. Now that they were actually in possession of what they'd always longed for, Kokonoe found himself floundering.

Hisami let out a breath and then thought about it.

"Her voice." He said eventually, "It's a pale yellow. That's a rare colour."

Now that made sense. If he had felt like a sore thumb for being haunted by nightmares, Hisami stood out even more for having synaesthesia, seeing colours with voices. He often liked to describe the voices of passer-by to Kokonoe, and he found it riveting, imagining the world a more colourful place. But it was one more thing that isolated them.

"But isn't that a…flimsy reason for getting so involved with someone? Aren't you going in too deep?"

Hisami laughed.

"This is coming from the guy who joined the school newspaper."

Grudgingly, Kokonoe did have to concede that point. Not that he felt like admitting it.

"That's completely different. I enjoy writing, not fame."

"You're wrapping yourself in cotton wool, Nine. Don't you think?" Hisami put his book down completely. "In any case, I thought Lisa would ease your dreams, somewhat. Doesn't she look like the kids at Sarasa Memorial?"

Sarasa Memorial. At that point, they had been 9 years old, and this was the third orphanage they'd been in, and the sixth place they'd ever lived in. They'd been living there for 6 whole months and were only just starting to settle. And then the fire broke out.

They had been the only ones who'd survived. And ever since then, he had been plagued by images from that day.

"She's helped, hasn't she?" Hisami pressed.

Kokonoe thought, and then nodded. He had to admit his nightmares had lessened in intensity and frequency ever since she had started joining them for lunch.

"You might be right. But if I'm going to get rid of the cotton wool, I need to do it at my own pace. It's great that you've adjusted and all, but I'm not like you."

Hisami chuckled at that "Of course you're not like me. Enjoy it. But sure, whatever. I just want you to be happy, you know."

"I know. Anyway, I should go, or I'm going to be late for my job."

"Okay. Don't forget to bring back the mistake pizzas!"

"I know."

He left, and wondered at what the future might hold.

**…**

When her head hit the wall, she knew a line had been crossed.

Her mother's angry moods always left her with bruises on her arms, or at least the feeling of bruises. Most of the time, her bones felt like they had been rattled, and occasionally, she felt herself go ragdoll-soft.

But never had things been so violent that her head ended up spinning. They had never been so bad that she had been shocked out of numbness.

And now, she cannot stay any longer.

She packed on autopilot, snuck to the door on autopilot. Even sneaking out and then running away, away, away, had required very little thinking. She had panicked when her mother stirred, though, that much she had been able to think.

After a lot of running, she eventually decided to stay at a train station for the night, and sleep. The floor was hard, and cold, but it was better than home. She slept fitfully, and at the first signs of morning, left the station and went into town

And then, it rained.

_...Just my luck._

**…**

"Something is wrong." Hisami said all of a sudden over their ready-meal dinner. He didn't know why, but he felt that.

Sure enough, Kokonoe stared at him as though he was utterly nuts.

"With Lisa. Something is wrong." he clarified.

"How would you know that?"

"I don't know.," Hisami admitted. "I really don't. But I do know that something is wrong."

"Summer break has begun. She's probably at her house. Are you sure your fears have any roots?"

"I don't think Lisa's home life is something she relishes, either. But the fact remains, something is wrong. "

Suddenly, he couldn't stand just sitting there when he knew for sure that something was wrong.

"I'm going to go." He said, getting up.

"To find her?" Kokonoe said. "Really?"

Hisami didn't bother to answer as he left.

**…**

This was why she should have thought about things before leaving.

Night had fallen a while ago, and she had no idea where she should go. Instead, she had spent the past few hours on the sidewalk, and she just watched the traffic go by. Thinking about her general stupidity.

She shivered. She hadn't been able to find anywhere to change, and her soaked clothes clung to her skin, making her feel practically frozen. Was it going to be like this all the time?

_Maybe I should have just stayed at home. _

Yeah, and then maybe the next time she would have died, or something. And it would be forever before anyone noticed.

She barely registered the sound of the motorbike, as it blended in with all other traffic noises. But she did notice the footsteps that came towards her. She turned, ready to escape.

Hisami.

"Hisami-kun?!"

"What are you doing out so late, Lisa?" he asked her.

She just blinked at him. She had not imagined, in the wildest of her thoughts that Hisami would bump into her.

"You should go home, Lisa." He told her.

"How can I?" she rounded on him suddenly, feeling broken "How can I?"

"I don't…Lisa, I don't really understand. "

"For so long, I've been waiting for someone to take me away from the world. But nobody is going to do that, are they? I'm so stupid. "

She expected him to say something, anything. Get mad at her in return. But instead, he just looked at her, sadly. As if he understood. But how could he? Even after these weeks, neither had told of their pasts. Or anything like that. They had just talked of school, and food, and books, and other, lighter things. So how could he understand anything?

"I...I…leave me alone!" she made to run, but all of a sudden Hisami reached out and hooked an arm around her gently. He pulled her in a little bit, but not close enough for an embrace. Indeed, he didn't even attempt to make it an embrace. He just held her there, in place.

And strangely enough, it wasn't scary. If she leaned back just a little, she could feel his arm. The warmth of it. How miraculous it was, that skin and bone and muscle could come together to equal a sense of safety, so much more than the sum of its parts.

Hisami looked at her, sadness at the edge of his features. He seemed to be collecting his words, trying to find the right thing to say. While he did so, he scrutinised her, carefully. She couldn't begin to imagine what it was he was thinking, but for some reason, she was no longer scared.

Eventually, he spoke.

"What is it that you want?" He asked.

Her eyes widened, and she felt them well up.

"Please…" she said. "Please, take me away."

Hisami withdrew his arm, nodded, and then crossed the road, standing next to a motorbike. Lisa hesitated for a moment, and then followed.

As they sped off into the night, her heart sang.


	2. part 2

**The title of this fic comes from a lyric from this anime's ending song. Just in case you were wondering. **

"Absolutely not." Kokonoe said when they finally got back.

_Crap. I'm caught_. Hisami didn't even have to say a word for Kokonoe to know what his intentions were. Lisa by his side was evidence enough.

"But, Nine…" he pleaded. Surely he could see what a state the girl was in? And were they not once as lost as she was?

"No." Kokonoe said. His expression brooked no argument. Hisami was just about to try and reason with him when a thud behind him caused him to turn around.

Lisa had fainted. Hisami instinctively bent down to pick her up. She was surprisingly heavy for someone who had looked ready to fade away. He tried to shift her weight a few times, but it did not particularly help until Kokonoe decided to assist him.

"Looks like she's decided for us, hasn't she?" Kokonoe said by way of explanation.

"Yeah, she has."

**…**

Lisa spent about two weeks in varying states of sleep on Hisami and Kokonoe's sofa. After the first day, she had woken up and wandered around, but then Hisami had given her a fright so bad that she had fainted all over again.

The first thing she did was have a bath, a long, hot one. She told herself that this was the only time she'd have such a long bath, and that she'd stick to showers in the future. Afterwards, she dried off and dressed in the tracksuit that had been left for her.

After that, she decided to wander around the apartment. The living room she had been sleeping in was small but reasonable, the kitchen was tiny (as was the bathroom), but the two remaining rooms were huge. One had a bunk bed and a nice view of the city, and she presumed that this was their own bedroom. The other room was windowless, and had a long table along once end, with a few chairs next to it. Two laptops and various books were scattered across the table. It was in this room she had wandered and been scared by Hisami.

The place was neat, despite the fact that it was owned by two teenage boys, but it was dark, and sad. She felt she should do something about it.

But first, she should cook something for the boys to eat when they got back.

She went to the tiny kitchen and found suitable ingredients despite the fact the fridge mostly held ready meals. She prepared them without many problems, until she went to the oven.

It was small, and didn't look like a new model. But all the same, it looked formidable, and she didn't have a clue how to work it.

_Oh well_, she thought. _I'll just figure it out as I go along_.

**…**

Hisami could smell fire as he came back from with Kokonoe. Wordlessly. He turned to Kokonoe, whose expression confirmed that he smelt it too.

They ran up the stairs frantically and opened the door, only to be greeted with Lisa cheerfully calling out 'welcome home' from the kitchen. She was standing at the oven, attempting to make what he assumed was a stir-fry. Black smoke was coming from the oven.

There was something sweet about the way she was standing there, smiling at them. But he had to deal with the matter at hand. Quickly, Hisami went and fiddled with the oven buttons until the smoke dissipated. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, dinner's almost ready." Lisa said. "Why not sit down? "The yellow made the atmosphere immediately lighter, even if he was the only one able to see it.

Kokonoe looked at Hisami, and Hisami looked at Kokonoe, and they shrugged. They went to sit in their living room, and soon after Lisa came with their dinner.

A dinner which was, predictably, burnt.

After a few swallows, Kokonoe pushed the plate away.

"This is terrible. You shouldn't have bothered. If you think it will make you more useful, it won't."

"Nine!" Hisami scolded. "That's harsh. But, you're right. This is revolting."

Lisa winced "You're so blunt." Hisami almost laughed at the expression on her face.

"Try it yourself." He told her. She did so, and then pulled a face.

"Fine, fine. I give in." she said. She put her fork down, and then asked.

"By the way, why do you call yourselves Nine and Twelve?" she asked. "It's been bugging me for a while."

"Well…we can tell her, right?"

Kokonoe shrugged. "It's not a secret." He said.

"Well," Hisami said "Nine's birthday is September 12th, and mine is December 9th. " He paused, not entirely sure how to explain it to her. Outside their small universe, it sounded ridiculous.

"Oh, so if Kokonoe-kun wrote his birthday in month-date-year format and you wrote yours in date-month-year format, they'd look the same. For example? Right? So that's where the names come from."

Wow. He hadn't expected her to get it so quickly.

"Yep! As it happens, the example you used illustrates our personal preferences for writing dates. Anyway, how did you get that so quickly? Are you secretly a total weirdo?"

Lisa laughed at that. And laughed, and laughed. The room was dazzling. After a while, she caught her breath for a moment.

"Pot….calling…kettle…black!" and she burst into laughter again. When she finally calmed down, she smiled at both of them.

"It's been a long time since I laughed like that,"She told them. The statement was innocent enough, but carried enough sadness for them to all feel. They stayed silent for a while. Then, Hisami got up.

"Say, Lisa. Should I teach you how the kitchen appliances work?" he asked. She looked at him, grateful, and irrationally, it felt as if he had been given the world.

"Yes, I think that would be good."

**…**

After a small while, it felt as if she had been living there forever.

With Hisami's help, she was now able to cook a meal without burning it. She cleaned the windows, and made sure the curtains were pulled in the daylight hours to bring brightness into the house (although Hisami liked to tell her she was light enough). Although the boys did their own chores, she helped whenever she could. She visited the library, and went shopping often, and later managed to find herself a summer job at a café that specialised in being child-friendly. With Hisami's Saturday job as a shelf-stacker in a convenience store, and Kokonoe's regular job of being a pizza deliveryman in the evenings, she felt as if she was contributing to a family life.

This feeling was complete when one day, Kokonoe came home with a large parcel, which he took into what Lisa had come to think of as the workroom, and then worked on for a while. It turned out to be a camp-bed, which Kokonoe suggested Lisa could use instead of having to sleep on their sofa. He didn't say much more than that, but Lisa knew this meant that he finally accepted that she was staying with them, and didn't mind in the slightest. Of course, it wasn't really like a bedroom, as the boys worked at the desk often, but she didn't really care.

Occasionally, after work, she would hang out with Hanayo, and sometimes Kotori would come too. They had fun together, and they enjoyed showing her the wonders of a girly day out, but not once did she tell them about her current living situation. She knew she would one day, because they were closest she'd probably ever have to female friends, but she didn't want to do so just yet. Perhaps she was still afraid of it all falling apart.

**…**

Lisa liked the view from the rooftop so much that she didn't notice Hisami coming up until he spoke and made her jump.

"Oh! Twelve! You scared me. I was just hanging up the sheets."

"And day-dreaming in the process, yeah, I know."

Lisa pulled a face, and went back to hanging the sheets up on the many washing lines she had strung up earlier.

"But you know, I don't really blame you," Hisami said. "I really like the rooftop too. That's kinda why we chose this place."

"Oh, I see."

"Are you worried about something, Lisa?"

She thought about this. She felt settled, and happy-a marked contrast to the life she'd had before-but occasionally the question she'd had before still surfaced in her mind, so she decided to ask it.

"Why do you do all this for me?"

Hisami didn't pretend to misunderstand.

"We're friends, right? That's what friends do for each other, isn't it? I mean, for the longest time me and Nine have only had each other, so I don't really know, but we're friends, and we help each other. "

Hisami paused, and then added.

"Besides, you make us happy. Having you around is nice. Nine thinks so too, I know it. Even if he doesn't really show it. Like I said, it's only been just the two of us for most our lives, so he tends to be a bit frosty. "

"I thought it was something like that. He wouldn't have got the camp-bed otherwise, would he?"

"Exactly."

Hisami ducked down, and disappeared. Then, he poked his head between two sheets she had hung up.

"Boo!" he said, chuckling. "Let me help you."

"Idiot. You're not going to be much help if you insist on using the washing as a hide-and-seek playground."

"Fine, fine!"

**…**

On evenings when Kokonoe was working, Hisami got Lisa to read to him. The quietness of her voice somehow managed to bring the worlds in the novels to life, and in addition to that, he got to see the pale yellow, everywhere.

"Twelve, what are you looking at?" jolted out of his reverie, he looked at Lisa, who had stopped reading and was giving him an odd look.

"Ah, caught out." Hisami said. He paused, trying to think of how to explain his view of the world.

"I have a condition called synaesthesia. It means that I can 'see' voices as colours. Nine's is blue like one of those ridiculous energy drinks. Yours is a pale yellow, a really nice, hopeful colour. A rare one, too. Really."

Lisa gave him a crooked smile.

"Hence why you make me read to you. "

"Guilty as charged!"

"So then, what colour is_ your_ voice?"

Once again, she had the capacity to surprise him. Not even Kokonoe had asked him that question.

"Well…I can't really see it that clearly, as it's my voice, but it's kind of a green. Like the shadows on the ground in a sunny forest. If that makes sense. "

Lisa nodded, wide eyed.

"You're kind of lucky. You don't need a mind-set to make the world beautiful."

"It's not_ quite_ that simple." Hisami told her, secretly thinking her enthusiasm rather cute.

"But it helps, right? If mum had a voice in a nice colour…it would have been easier to deal with her…I like colours…"

Lisa's face crumpled, and she started to cry.

Hisami floundered, clueless in the art of dealing with crying girls. Then, almost as if by instinct, he shuffled across the sofa and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close. He watched the jagged yellow spikes in the air, and then he just closed his eyes and rested his chin on her soft head, waiting for her shaking to subside.

He could smell her scent from this close. It was a sweet, childlike smell. It wasn't, however, a distinguishable one like the smell of strawberries or chocolate or roses. It was her _own_ scent. And although his synaesthesia didn't extend to smells, he didn't feel anything odd about thinking that her scent was a melody.

Finally, she calmed, and pulled away slightly so she could wipe her eyes.

"Sorry…" she said, floundering "I...I just…"

"Shhhh. There isn't any need to explain." There wasn't. He was well versed in waking-hour nightmares.

She looked at him, emotions dancing in her dark eyes.

"I…erm…Twelve? Could you…could you hold me again?" she asked, timidly. He smiled at her, and obliged. On an impulse, he kissed the top of her head lightly. He didn't think the gesture was noticeable, but she twisted herself around a little so that she was looking at him, their faces very close.

Hisami went red, but Lisa just smiled, looking a little melancholy while doing so. They stared at each other for a moment, and he vaguely thought of the book they had abandoned.

Then Lisa closed the remaining distance between them, and all thoughts of the book disappeared.

**…**

_First day back and I end up bumping into Yuuko Nakazawa and Tomoko Sawano. Great._

Hisami and Kokonoe had gone slightly ahead, but they stopped at the first indication that she wasn't with them, and now they seemed to be combining walking back to get her with working out what the best thing to do was.

"_Liiisa_, how was your holiday?" Yuuko asked snidely.

"Haven't slit your wrists yet?" Tomoko followed up, laughing crassly.

Lisa stood there, feeling small. Then, for the first time in a long time, she felt angry at them.

"Leave me alone!" she said. "I don't want to have to talk to you."

"What the hell? Why so rude?" Tomoko asked.

"Exactly. No need to get rude."

"If someone you didn't like was talking to you, wouldn't _you _tell them to leave you alone?" Kokonoe and Hisami had reached them, at last.

Yuuko and Tomoko regarded the boys with confusion.

"Yeah….so?"

"You realise Lisa's doing the same?" Hisami told them. "You've never been nice to her, so why should she be nice to you?"

Yuuko and Tomoko blinked at them, and then they both showed the middle finger to the three and walked off.

"Thanks." Lisa told them both, gratefully.

"No need. Where are we going to go before school starts?" Kokonoe asked.

"Our classroom," Hisami declared. "Lisa and I are in that room, but you aren't. Two against one!"

"Twelve, this was never a competition…"

"So?"

"Good grief." Kokonoe face-palmed.

They headed to the classroom and chatted a while. Soon, Hanayo arrived, tanned from a trip to Spain.

"Hi guys! Good holiday?" she asked.

"Yeah." They replied, in unison, before laughing at each other.

"Okay, that's scary," Hanayo declared. "Have your minds like, fused or something? "

"Nope." Lisa told her "I've actually been living with them."

Hanayo's eyes looked as if they were falling out of her head.

"FOR REAL?!WHEN, HOW, WHY? And why you no tell me, Sacchan?" Hanayo pulled a mock-dissapointed face to complement the fake-Spanish accent she had decided to give her words.

"Trouble at home, Hanayo-Chan. Sorry." She said.

"Ah, its fine, its fine. " Hanayo said, using her normal voice. Then, she stared at Lisa. "Hey, your hair is a bit longer, you know. "

"It is?" Lisa felt her hair. "Perhaps I should get it cut this weekend?"

"No, don't," Hisami said unexpectedly, reaching out and twirling a strand of her hair around his fingers, looking at her intently.

"Why ever not?" Lisa asked, finding herself blushing a little. Although she knew that really she shouldn't be.

"It looks nice like this. "

"Oh…well, maybe I will leave it then. But I'm not going to have it that much longer. Maybe up to my shoulders. Maybe. No more."

"I agree with Hisami-kun." Hanayo declared "But anyway, what else have you not told me about, Sacchan?"

"Oh, Midpoint hasn't said anything that doesn't need saying." Hisami told her. Lisa giggled at Hanayo's look of confusion at the nickname Hisami liked to use on her from time to time, on account of her October 11th birthday.

"That doesn't even make _sense_. Hey, where did Kokonoe-kun go?"

"Talking to Endou-san from the school paper." Lisa pointed.

"No way! He stared a convo himself? _The world is ending_!" Hanayo said dramatically. Kokonoe heard, and glared at them, sending them into fits of laughter.

Eventually, his gaze softened, and he smiled back at them.

**…**

Kokonoe came home to find that the house was in complete silence.

"I'm back. And I have FIVE mistake pizzas," He called. Lisa didn't reply with a friendly greeting, Hisami didn't deliver a witty retort.

Concerned, he looked around the apartment. They weren't in the kitchen, or the living room, or the workroom.

They were, however, in the bedroom. Fast asleep. Together.

As soon as he saw them, he walked straight out again. Then he registered that first, they were in Hisami's bunk, second, they were still clothed, and third, even if they weren't, the quilt was covering them enough for that to not matter.

Warily, he went back in, and stood in the doorway, watching them. He observed the way they seemed to hold each other in their sleep, limbs tangled. In a way, this was inevitable, he reflected. It had been inevitable right from the beginning.

And he didn't begrudge them it. Hisami had always been the affectionate, tactile one. It wasn't so impossible that he'd fall for someone before Kokonoe did.

And that was fine. At first, he had thought her arrival would make their years of friendship count for nothing. But how wrong he had been. Lisa had enhanced their friendship, not broken it. And he, too, considered her a friend in her own right. Of course, things had changed. But Hisami would always be there, no matter how far their lives eventually took them. They didn't need to have such a strong hold on each other to survive. So he didn't envy Hisami's happiness.

_But_, he thought as he left the room, _I'm going to have to establish some ground rules here from now on. _

**…**

Now that everything was stable, Lisa allowed her thoughts to turn to her mother more often. She had eventually stopped receiving messages from her, but she had changed the SIM card regardless. There really was no going back, and she didn't intend to entertain _that_ particular notion for long. But she also came to the realisation that she didn't hate her mother. Not really, not truly. It was just they could never be together in the way a typical mother and daughter might be.

So, as September became October, she wrote a letter to her mother and posted it. She didn't include a return address. Even if she wanted to make amends, she didn't want to be found.

A few days later, she wrote another letter, enclosing an email address. Her mother sent her an email the next day, long and rambly and very sad. Lisa cried a little as she replied to it, but she managed to be concise and to the point, explaining her reasons for running tactfully, reassuring her that all was fine, but that she couldn't come back, but that didn't mean she loved her any less.

And so, eventually, they sent each other emails on a regular basis. Neither asked the other to meet-feelings were still fragile for that-but at least it was something.

**…**

And all of a sudden, it was her birthday.

Another thing all three of them had in common was the way they'd celebrated their birthdays. Or, rather, the fact that they hadn't done so. When Kokonoe's birthday had come around the month before, he had seemed overwhelmed by the thought of any kind of party, so they had just bought a cake and made him blow out the candles on it, before eating way too much snack food while watching movies for the entire night.

Today, however, they were going out to eat, and she had invited Hanayo and Kotori as well. It was a school day, so they'd had to go home and change. Lisa chose a yellow dress she had bought a few weeks ago, and she had clipped back part of her fringe with a simple silver clip. She found herself irrationally pleased when Hisami told her that what she was wearing matched her voice, for if she was being perfectly honest, that had been part of the motivation for buying it in the first place.

When they got there, Kotori was already waiting.

"Hanayo's going to be late. Swim team's holding her up." She told them.

"If she's swimming, how do you know that?" Kokonoe asked.

"Because I went there to check. Duh."

"Why don't we just go inside and start ordering stuff? She'll come soon, right?" Hisami suggested.

"Should do. Anyway, it's Lisa's choice. Whatcha think?"

"It's fine by me." Lisa smiled. They went in and found a free table. A waitress found them soon after, and asked them if they wanted to order something, so they did so, enthusiastically. Hisami informed the waitress that it was Lisa's birthday, which embarrassed her somewhat, but she didn't mind, not really.

They chatted while waiting. Kokonoe had a lot to say about newspapers and journalism-a topic he had become passionate about. Kotori talked about anything and everything, and Lisa and Hisami filled the gaps whenever they could, although Hisami did this more than she did. Most of the time, she just soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed it.

They were sipping on their just-arrived milkshakes when Hanayo arrived, cheeks red and hair wet.

"Sorry I'm late! Happy Birthday, Sacchan."

"You told me that already, but thanks." Lisa laughed.

"Hey, but she's only told you so twice!" Hisami pouted "How many times have I said it to you, Lisa?"

She laughed. "Many times, Twelve."

"Is someone ever going to explain what's up with the weird nicknames you all give each other?" Kotori asked.

"Nine's birthday is September 12th, Midpoint's is today, mine is December 9th. " Hisami said. He looked at Lisa, and they grinned at each other in knowledge of the private joke.

"I don't get it." Hanayo said.

"Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve?" Kokonoe said slowly. Both Hanayo and Kotori gave him a confused look.

"Never mind," Lisa told them.

"Ah, whatever. Can we still call you guys Nine and Twelve or whatever?"

"No." Kokonoe and Hisami stated simply, in unison.

"Unfortunately for you, Lisa's the only one granted that privilege." Hisami explained alone.

Hanayo pouted, and Kotori simply chuckled.

"I wonder why _that_ is." Hanayo mock-glared at Lisa and Hisami, then laughed.

Hisami seemed ready with a retort, but then their food arrived and they ended up distracted by it.

**…**

"I'm going to bed. I'm shattered. The Sasaki sisters are too much." Kokonoe declared as soon as they got home.

"Ah, they're not that bad. " Hisami said.

"That's because you're a lot like them." Kokonoe retorted.

"Meanie!" Hisami then checked his watch. "Anyway, we're going to the roof for a moment. Sweet dreams!" he took Lisa's hand, and dragged her up the stairs.

"Er…what? What are we doing and why?"

"You'll see. " Hisami turned to grin at her, but revealed nothing. He could not wait to show her what he had planned. Well, it wasn't his plan, really. Just his luck that random internet browsing had allowed him to stumble on this perfection. He just hoped that she liked it.

They got to the roof, and they found themselves distracted by the scenery. The sun had already gone down, and it was only a matter of time.

"Not long to wait now, Lisa." He told her, taking off his green blazer and draping it over her shoulders before putting an arm around her. It was getting cold, after all.

"What are we waiting for?"

"You'll see." He said cryptically. He loved the way she somehow managed to _get _him, but he still enjoyed having the capacity to surprise her. He held her closer, breathed in her Lisa-scent.

"Any second now…" he murmured, catching a glance of his watch. "Look at the sky."

They stayed silent for a few moments. Nothing happened.

Then, a burst of gold interrupted the darkness. Then red, green, blue, more gold, silver, pink. Colours, and then some. Even without synaesthesia, it would be a rainbow.

"Fireworks!" Lisa gasps, amazed.

"Yeah. Some big corporation is hosting a party on the other side of town. Saw an announcement of the internet. Figured that we have the best roof ever, so why do we need to travel for no reason, you know?"

"Hmm…" Lisa is entranced, and he is glad.

"So," he whispers "Do you like your present, Lisa?"

She turns to look at him.

"You know, whenever you say my name, it's like a song." He blinks at her, confused.

"I mean, when we first met you completely disregarded etiquette, called me by name right from the beginning, but for some reason it was nice. Soothing. Not like the way others used to call me…but yes, I do like your present. Thank you."

"No problem. That was a very roundabout way of telling me though, I have to say."

"Oh, like you aren't obscure yourself?"

"Touché." He says. They focus on the fireworks again, watching them illuminate the sky.

**…**

They are hanging out by the school swimming pool because they arrived at school too early and there is nowhere better to go. The pool is covered on account of it being winter, but all the same, it is a nice place to be.

"This is where it all began, wasn't it?" she mused. "You, me. Nine. "

"It could be argued that it all began when we were born, that everything was leading to this moment." He replied, smiling.

"Could be, but for me, looking back now, it felt like that this is where my life began, when you were an idiot and jumped into the pool in front of me, grinning all the while. " Hisami pulled a grin in response, making her laugh.

"I'm glad, you know. "She told him. "Glad that you came, just at that moment. Glad that you kept on coming after me. My life's so much better for it."

"Well, so's mine."

"No, really. I feel as if things would never have got better if you hadn't been around to make it so."

"Hmm…" Hisami adopted an expression of deep thought. "If it hadn't been me, it would have been someone else. There's something fiery about you, even back then there was. You'd have been saved, some way or another."

She considered this. Then, she smiled, and reached out to take his hands, lacing her fingers with his.

"Be that as it may," she says a little grandly "I'm glad it was you who found me, and not someone else."

Hisami mirrored her smile, and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Be that as it may," he said, echoing her excessively formal phrase "I'm also glad that I was the one to find you."

Their laughter sends out a rainbow across the sky, one as bright as a song.

**I hoped you enjoyed that. Please leave feedback**


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